After all
by gracie01
Summary: When Claire's life is in serious danger, Neil will do his best to help her and in the meantime finally find out what she really means to him... *MELENDAIRE*
1. Chapter 1

**After all**

Hi everybody! How you doing?  
So this my first attempt at writing a FF about "The Good doctor I freaking love that show and I'm a huge Melendaire shipper  
For this story I took some inspiration from the Grey's Anatomy episode about the plane crush "(R.I.P Lexie ).  
Other characters will be mentioned as well. Ps: I don't own anything or any characters. Everything belongs to ABC.  
Hope you like it! Reviews and constructive comments are always accepted, but don't be too hard :P Here we are, let's start!

 **Chapter 1**

It was a pretty regular day at St. Jose Saint Bonaventure Hospital: Andrews was being annoying, Allegra tried to keep him from getting Shaun fired or getting him to make a mistake so he could be president, Melendez and Jessica were still dealing with the end of their relationship and Shaun, Claire and Jared ran around the hospital to do everything Melendez said.

Claire was checking some charts at the nurses' station while the phone kept ringing and for some reason nobody was there to answer, so she did it.

"Surgical. Well, you're in luck because I'm not a nurse, I'm a surgical resident. How can I help you?" She said and smiled at the news she had just received. After a few seconds she dropped the phone and ran towards the pit where she found the rest of the team to tell them what she knew.

"We got a liver for Chuck!" Claire said short of breath getting everyone's attention.

" Where?" Melendez asked urging her to get to the point, a liver didn't last forever.  
"SF Municipal Hospital!" she said.  
"And how long do we have body-to-body on the liver transplant?"  
"Eight hours." Jared and Claire said at the same time while Shaun stayed silent causing Melendez to look at him with a furrowed brow.

You don't know the longevity of a liver? This is a teaching hospital, and I'm the teacher. He said as a matter of fact and then started bossing them around as always, something they didn't enjoy much.

"You and Murphy, you're on organ pick-up. Check the health and bring the liver back from SFM."

I was at Chuck's intake.I'd really like to be- But before Claire could finish her sentence Melendez replied to her with a serious tone.  
"Now you're gonna be at the intake for his new liver".

"Jared, get Chuck down here and get him prepped."

"We got eight hours on this thing, and the clock is ticking"

After he was done giving instructions to his resident he rushed out of the pit to go get ready for the transplant.

In the meantime Shaun and Claire were on the rooftop about to take off:

"How you doing? I know these sounds and everything might be a lot for you. It's hard for anyone!" Claire said trying to start conversation with Shaun since she still hadn't figured out how to communicate with him.

"I like helicopters." Shaun replied.

"I, uh, didn't know you'd been on a helicopter." Claire said very surprised, she thought he didn't like the noise and all that stuff, she though it made him nervous.

"I haven't." he said nonchalantly.

"Ok, but you do know what this is, right? Well, I'll tell you what it is. It's scut work. Jared gets the golden ticket, and we get pizza delivery." Claire said clearly annoyed by the situation: she wanted to put that liver inside Chuck's body, not the liver delivery girl. Shaun, instead, just kept focusing on the helicopter and the sky.

As soon as they got to San Francisco Municipal the two residents went straight to the OR where they knew their liver was:  
" Here's your liver. I'm going to need you to sign for it." The nurse said pointing to a cooler on the table behind them.

"Hold on, standard operating procedure is the leave the liver in the safety of the body cavity." Claire stated clearly upset.

"I'm aware of the procedure." He replied not even bothering to look her in the eyes and admit he was wrong.

"We had a John Doe at the top of the registry, but that John Doe died before we could plant." He explained.

"How long ago did you take it out?" Shaun asked making his presence known for the first time since they got there.  
"Three hours."

"We just lost three hours." Claire said and now she was definitely in a bad mood; not only did she have to pick up a liver, they had also lost 3 hours.

"Technically three hours and five minutes." The nurse said as if it would make everything better getting angry looks from Claire.

While Claire and the nurse kept arguing Shaun took the liver out of the cooler and started to take a closer look at it to make sure those surgeons had done their job.

"Can't go below 39 degrees or above 47 degrees." Shaun explained to them.

"You want to sign for it? "

"Tissue looks healthy. What are you doing? What are you looking for? " Claire asked as she got closer to Shaun to figure out what exactly he was looking for. She knew he was smart but most of the time she had trouble talking to him and this was one of those times.

"What's he doing? " The confused nurse asked Claire.

"I'm not sure." Claire said being as confused as he was.

"Shaun, what are you looking for? Masses? Cysts? They're clean." She said trying to get his attention but failed miserably. Shaun was still checking the liver.

"You think we'd miss a tumor? There's nothing there."

"I know. There's nothing there." Shaun replied and put the liver down to which Claire replied:

"Okay, the liver needs to go back into cold storage, and we got to go."

With that statement they got on the rooftop of SFM ready to go back to San Josè.

Meanwhile, at the hospital Melendez and Jared were prepping their patient and explain to him and his family what they were about to do:

"So, Chuck, any chest pains, shortness of breath?" Jared asked as Melendez observed him and his bedside manners, which, he had to admit, weren't that bad.

"No." Chuck said.

"Any alcohol in the last six months?"  
"No."

" Here comes a quick pinch." Melendez said as a nurse pinched Chuck.

-"Any swelling in your limbs?"  
" It's Walmart on Black Friday in here." Chuck joked and got the whole room to laugh, it was good energy for them all.

"Things speed way up when you're having a transplant." Melendez explained to his patient.

"I like it. It's good energy." Chuck replied and smiled at them.

"So, that's a "no" on the swelling?"

"No. I feel lousy all the time, pretty much. But I've got a second chance, you know, with this liver.

" Chuck managed to joke again and the doctors thought it was a good sign, he was positive and that was all that mattered in that moment.

"Sure." Jared replied and with that he and Neil left the room.

Shaun and Claire were still on the helicopter when the weather suddenly changed and it became so windy that Claire's curls were all over the place.  
"It's changed, the weather changed but the weather channel didn't say it would change." Shaun said trying to stay calm even though he was getting very nervous: he didn't like complications, not in sugery, not ever.

Claire, sensing that Shaun was afraid tried to comfort him:  
"It's ok Shaun, we'll land somewhere safe and then we'll leave when it gets better, ok?" She said trying to get Shaun's attention.  
"Ok….Ok…..somewhere safe." But, as soon as Shaun said those words the pilot announced there was no room for an emergency landing, they were flying above the woods which meant they had to keep going until they reached the next city.

After a few minutes, the plane started to spin a little bit and kept flying lower and lower causing Shaun and Claire to really start panicking…..

Back at the hospital Melendez and Jared were still waiting for them to come back.  
"Call again." He demanded when Glassman walked to them:  
"Are they here yet?" the president asked also wondering what on earth was taking the two young residents so long.

"Not yet, Chuck can't wait anymore." Melendez said before going to check on him and make sure he was ready.

Two hours later Neil and Jared were still waiting and starting to lose their patience; if it was a joke Shaun and Claire were going to pay with scut work for a whole month.

He was going to the nurses' station to demand answers when , __ _Alex Park_ , their newest resident came to him, having heard of what was going on and deciding to help.

"I've already tried, they know nothing." He said, he was getting a bit worried too. It had been over 2 hours and still no news from Shaun and Claire.

Neil, Jared and Alex were about to try again when Andrews ran over to the three surgeons:

"I tried calling the pilot, he wouldn't answer so I called the airline." Marcus said not knowing hot to break the terrible news to them.

"And?" Park asked, Jared and Neil waiting as well.

"They lost contact with the helicopter. They lost them…."

This is it, first chapter is on! I really hope you like it and please, let me know what you think! Respectful comments and suggestions are always accepted!


	2. Chapter 2

**After all**

Hi everybody! How you doing?  
So this my first attempt at writing a FF about "The Good doctor I freaking love that show and I'm a huge Melendaire shipper  
For this story I took some inspiration from the Grey's Anatomy episode about the plane crush "(R.I.P Lexie ).  
Other characters will be mentioned as well. Ps: I don't own anything or any characters. Everything belongs to ABC.  
Hope you like it! Reviews and constructive comments are always accepted, but don't be too hard :P Here we are, let's start!

 **Chapter 2**

 **Previously on The Good Doctor….**

"I tried calling the pilot, he wouldn't answer so I called the airline." Marcus said not knowing hot to break the terrible news to them.

"And?" Park asked, Jared and Neil waiting as well.

"They lost contact with the helicopter. They lost them…."

"What?! What do you mean they lost them?" Melendez was furious while Jared didn't know what to say and Alex tried to think of what to do with their patient: he was worried as well but someone had to think about the man waiting for his new liver.

"I mean what I said Dr Melendez. They said they can't get in touch with the pilot. It's as if they suddenly disappeared."

"Wait, do they know the last location? I mean, if they can track down the last location shown in the GPS they might start having an idea of where to look for them." Alex suggested, his skills as a cop coming back to him.

"Might be a good idea. Also, we have to expect them to be hurt…Shaun….Shaun is going to be the biggest problem here, he will try to push everyone away if he manages to survive it, it's how he copes with things: he has a tendency to run away from conflict…" Glassman explained getting concerned looks from everyone. They were all worried about Claire but no one knew better than Aaron Glassman what this incident could mean for Shaun. They didn't know how he would deal with it.

"Ok then let's call the police and the airline company, see if they made any progress." Andrews said and everyone nodded before going back to work: they still had a hospital to run and patients to care for.

A few hours later Melendez and Jared had just finished a surgery on a little girl with a congenital heart malformation, the surgery had gone well and the kid was now in recovery so Jared decided to go to an on-call room to try and take a nap, at least to get his mind off things for a while.

Melendez instead went to his office and buried himself with paperwork; he didn't want to think about the possibilities that his residents were out there, alone, possibly hurt not knowing if they were going to survive….he didn't want to lose Shaun, the kid was smart and could become an excellent surgeon. It had taken Neil some time to get used to it but in the end he had learned how to respect Shaun and his choices. But, the thought of losing her…he couldn't bear that thought, hell he didn't even want to think about it: he had always cared about Claire, she was beautiful, kind, caring and had the biggest heart, but after his breakup with Jessica he had started to pay more attention to her, always making sure she was ok especially after the Coyle situation and he also started to sort of "check her out" more often than he would ever admit.

Sometimes Alex caught him looking at her and smirked at him in an I-can-see-you kind of way which made Neil even more irritated: he couldn't quite figure out how he felt about Claire but if she didn't survive he would never get the chance to find out.

With all those thoughts in mind he didn't even realize the paperwork was done so he was left with nothing to do. Thank God another resident bursted into his office to ask for a consult on behalf of her attending and after that it was one surgery after another.

That day he performed so many surgeries with his residents and Andrews that all of them didn't even realize it was time to go home.

Jared left against his wish, Alex stayed for another hour to fill out some patients' charts and then left as well, but on his way home he noticed his attending sitting alone on a bench.

"Hey." He said to which Neil just nodded.

"You know, sitting here all alone will not do you good. Go home, they'll call us if anything happens." Alex tried to explain himself, he never showed his vulnerabile side but seeing the always impeccable Neil Melendez like that made him feel sorry for him. He knew he had grown to care about Shaun but he also had an idea of what was going on with Claire, although for now he wouldn't say anything, it just wasn't the right time to talk about it.

"I can't leave, I'm just getting some fresh air. I want to be here…" Neil replied weakly, he looked like he was about to pass out from lack of sleep.

"Ok, look….. I don't know you that much but I can tell you care about them….especially Claire, but now's not the time to drown in your sorrows, you've gotta go home, get some sleep and come back tomorrow so you'll be ready for her." Alex explained and Neil wasn't sure when the argument shifted from him to Claire.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I just don't want to lose my team, that's all." He said hoping to get Park to change the subject, which he did seeing how exhausted Melendez really was.

"Ok. Good." With that Alex left and when Neil turned around he noticed Glassman walking towards him and sitting next to him. Neil couldn't help but wonder if the president had heard anything and how much he had heard, but there was only one way to find out.

"Do you mind?" Glassman carefully asked taking in his surgeon's appearance. The man didn't look good, he needed to sleep.

Neil didn't respond so Aaron took it as a yes and sat next to him.

After a few minutes Neil turned to look at him:  
"How long were you standing there?" he asked.

"Long enough. I have faith Doctor Melendez. That's what keeps me going."

"I'm not a believer." Melendez said as a matter of fact.

"I don't mean it like that. I mean that I have faith in Shaun and Claire. I trust them even though I'm very, very worried. You should do the same."

"It's not easy." Melendez finally admitted out loud…..it wasn't easy.

"I know. But try. For example, start by getting home and getting a good night sleep. It can help, you know?" Glassman pointed out and stood up, going to the parking lot to get his car and go home.

Neil kept replaying those words in his mind until he had had enough of thinking so he decided, for once, to follow Park and Glassman's advice and go home.

The next few days went on like this for everyone, surgery after surgery to avoid thinking about Shaun and Claire still lost God knows where.

At the end of the week Neil and Alex were talking to Andrews at the nurses' station when Glassman walked impatiently towards them with a smile on his face.  
"I have some news, I just got off the phone with the police. They located the helicopter, they're sending a special team over there to get our residents." He explained although he advised everyone to be careful when they got back, they didn't know how injured the two surgeons were but he also reminded them that they would everything in their power to help them heal.

At the news the team shared a collective smile, Neil had the biggest one on his face and as always Alex didn't fail to notice it: Shaun and Claire were going to be fine, they were coming home….. She was going to be fine. With that thought his smile grew even bigger and he happily walked away to get ready for his next surgery and wait for them…she was coming home.

This is it, second chapter is on! I really hope you like it and please, let me know what you think! Respectful comments and suggestions are always accepted!


End file.
